Monorail Expansion...maybe..

[disneysailor]

Light rail would probably be a good option, as this technology is already used in many cities worldwide, and systems can be bought 'off the shelf' rather than being bespoke designed (like a monorail).

Light rail is also very reliable, flexible and relatively affordable and can be easily extended. London has a great system called the 'Docklands Light Railway' which is quick, reliable and remotely controlled (which saves on employee costs). Since it was built, it is always being extended and capacity is being increased (despite the difficulties in building in an already built-up and expensive city), which demonstrates the flexibilty of the system.

However, as many have already pointed out, WDW's bus network is the most flexible and cost efficient solution at the moment. It would take a rise in fuel costs to prohibitive levels AND and a massive increase in traffic for Disney to start looking at alternatives (as much as I would love to see it happen!)

Imagine a network of light rail lines covering all the parks and resorts with one central hub which connects via a high speed line to OIA and the DCL terminal in Port Canaveral! Yeah, I know... never gonna happen- people love their cars too much in the States to go by train.

Saying that, I also love driving in Florida when I visit- to me it's part of the vacation!

 

[psuchad]

Cost is really not an issue here. Going to Penn State I saw many times that a small park or fountain would be built simply because somebody donated millions of dollars for that specific use.

And we are talking donations for the thousands of Penn State graduates that donate their life savings just because they are devoted to the school. There are millions more in this world that are devoted to Disney. All it really takes is one person that loved the monorail when they were a kid to pass on the billion dollars in savings to build a monorail extension. And Disney would have no choice than to build it or forfeit the money.

You may laugh but stranger things have happened. On a side note, I think that their will eventually be a new hub put in place to service Studios and AK based out of Epcot. I don’t think it would be feasible to build from TTC to the parks. I also do not see a need to include all the resorts. Buses can transport guests to a central parking lot where they board the monorail to the parks.

[font=&quot]Edit: Hey this was post 50 for me. Let's celebrate with fireworks and celebrity appearances.[/font]

 

[bhg469]

We should ask the dippin dots guy. If he agrees.. then it must be so!

not to get off topic but dippin dots? where??!

 

[Thrawn]

Excuse me! I have read and this is MY OPINION. NO one can say "it will never happen" You have good points light rail is a interesting choice but please DO NOT belittle my thoughts we are all giving opinon and this was mind. you may want to actually look at the cost of business and return not just state what you think is a bad idea for difference reason. every problem has a solution and the expansion does not have to be complete all at once, it came be done in parts and technology change over time. so please alow us to give our educated opinons and not tell me to read 20 pages of thread before posting!

Yes, you're excused.
First of all, this is a forum. People can post on it. If you do not like me replying to your post with reasons why it wouldn't work, then you shouldn't be posting.
Second, I did give the cost of business and return.
Third, parts and technology DO CHANGE, but the cost of materials only goes up. Someone quoted $50 million a mile. Well, thats fine, for Vegas. Don't forget that this is all swampland, and the pylons have to be buried pretty deep to be safe. Its more like $100 million per mile for extending the monorail in WDW.
Fourth, your opinion isn't an educated one. It was one based on "what you want to see". An educated opinion means you have done research into what you are talking about, and therefore have educated yourself as to both the pros and cons. Since you refuse to read the long, well thought and well argued previous threads, you are refusing to educate yourself on the subject, therefore your opinion is just based on the cool factor.

 

[Thrawn]

Cost is really not an issue here. Going to Penn State I saw many times that a small park or fountain would be built simply because somebody donated millions of dollars for that specific use.

And we are talking donations for the thousands of Penn State graduates that donate their life savings just because they are devoted to the school. There are millions more in this world that are devoted to Disney. All it really takes is one person that loved the monorail when they were a kid to pass on the billion dollars in savings to build a monorail extension. And Disney would have no choice than to build it or forfeit the money.

You may laugh but stranger things have happened. On a side note, I think that their will eventually be a new hub put in place to service Studios and AK based out of Epcot. I don’t think it would be feasible to build from TTC to the parks. I also do not see a need to include all the resorts. Buses can transport guests to a central parking lot where they board the monorail to the parks.

[font=&quot]Hey this was post 50 for me. Let's celebrate with fireworks and celebrity appearances.[/font]

Its not legal to donate money to a publically traded company.

 

[Douglas Bray]

I live in Vancouver British Columbia and we have a system called skytrain which is very close to the monorail system. It is being expanded and will include a dozen stations and be about ten miles long and it is going to cost around 800 million canadian or about 640 million US for a much larger system than would be needed at Walt Disney World so I think the numbers that people are banting around are a little out to lunch.

 

[cbspace]

Park Hopper Option

IF it's there I will use it. It would be nice for people like me that just drive up from day to day as well. I can just hop from one park to another park without waiting 25 mins for a buss like I did at AK in April.

Has anyone discussed why they separated the park hopper option out of the ticket price. Many CMs who post on these boards speculate that people do not want to travel from park to park and thus a more transportation is not needed. Well, now Disney has real numbers to work off of and not just speculation.

That is one of the main reasons I dislike going to Animal Kindom - I can't go to another park without going all the way back to my car - or waiting 30 mins for a bus.

 

[psuchad]

Its not legal to donate money to a publically traded company.

Well I wasn't thinking about that. The main point of my post was that there are ways around the money issue. Do you think Disney could start a Disney Transportation Company that is not publically traded to allow donations?

 

[Disneyfan1981]

I'd love for this too happen but as many have pointed out the cost is just way to high to be a reality. In terms of CMs I think some of them enjoy having some good natured fun with guests by not flat out lying but not exactly dashing their dreams of WDW expansions either. I've had a CM tell me that Beastly Kingdom would be a reality three different times on three different trips and by that it should be enjoying its 5th anniversary by now. I've heard of the Villian's Park breaking ground in 2007, Villians Land in MK opening in 2007. A Star Wars redo to open in conjunction with Revenge of the Sith, I've heard a lot. All just chatter...

 

[Thrawn]

I live in Vancouver British Columbia and we have a system called skytrain which is very close to the monorail system. It is being expanded and will include a dozen stations and be about ten miles long and it is going to cost around 800 million canadian or about 640 million US for a much larger system than would be needed at Walt Disney World so I think the numbers that people are banting around are a little out to lunch.

No. For all resorts to each park, thats 20+ stations, times four parks, plus WWoS, and Downtown Disney, and the water parks. So, call it 100 stations. I would say, guesstimating, 30 miles of track, but its probably much higher.

Even if you do just TTC to the parks, WWoS, Downtown Disney, and the water parks, thats 10 more stations, and probably 20 miles of track.

 

[Thrawn]

Well I wasn't thinking about that. The main point of my post was that there are ways around the money issue. Do you think Disney could start a Disney Transportation Company that is not publically traded to allow donations?

Can't do that either. But I'll go with it. If someone, say Bill Gates or whoever, was to donate $2 billion to Disney, I'd like to see the imagineers build some crazy stuff with it than expanding the monorail. Besides the efficiency, it also just is not a draw of any kind. People will not say "oooh lets go to WDW, the monorail is longer now!"

 

[righttrack]

It would be far easier to dig channels and expand boat transportation rather than expand the monorail.

 

[Thrawn]

Has anyone discussed why they separated the park hopper option out of the ticket price. Many CMs who post on these boards speculate that people do not want to travel from park to park and thus a more transportation is not needed. Well, now Disney has real numbers to work off of and not just speculation.

Well, that might be true except for the fact that the park hopper option actually made the tickets cheaper now.

 

[Thrawn]

It would be far easier to dig channels and expand boat transportation rather than expand the monorail.

Very true, and far more efficient. Boat full? Send another. Would also be costly, but probably less so than monorail expansion.

 

[Disneyfan1981]

No. For all resorts to each park, thats 20+ stations, times four parks, plus WWoS, and Downtown Disney, and the water parks. So, call it 100 stations. I would say, guesstimating, 30 miles of track, but its probably much higher.

Even if you do just TTC to the parks, WWoS, Downtown Disney, and the water parks, thats 10 more stations, and probably 20 miles of track.

I'd just like them to hit the parks, maybe a couple of additional stations at nearby Hotels like the AK Lodge and maybe on centralized station for the hotels near Epcot. But even that has its enemies....:king:

 

[Thrawn]

I'd just like them to hit the parks, maybe a couple of additional stations at nearby Hotels like the AK Lodge and maybe on centralized station for the hotels near Epcot. But even that has its enemies....:king:

Its not really "enemies", its just that there are those of us who would like the money spent elsewhere.

 

[captainbuzzy]

I talked to the CM running the Churro Wagon and he said that they are defininitely expanding the monorail, AND thery are going to serve free churros onboard from now on.. Oh boy!. :slurp:

He added that he spoke with Jeb Bush (who is a regular at his cart) and it's been cleared with the Corp, the State DEQ, and the Tomorrowland Transit Autority.

 

[CapnStinxy]

watch the fireworks

It would be far easier to dig channels and expand boat transportation rather than expand the monorail.

Except that the South Florida and St. Johns River Water Management Dsitricts, and the Army Corps of Engineers, would simultaneously give birth to cows.

What navigable waterways there are at WDW exist because they either were built before water management was incorporated as a regulatory element in development plans, or the channels could me made navigable without any significant additional environmental impact.

With the Army Corps of Engineers spending over $8 billion on Everglades restoration (which begins just down the road in Kissimmee), they are very twitchy about large-scale dredge and/or fill operations.

 

[brich]

I'm intrigued by the number of posts that simply state, To Expensive, will never happen, or, It's not Expensive, it can be done. But no where have I seen a link to an actual legitimate estimate on what this project would actually cost. There have been some real educated guesses and some not so educated guesses. The fact of the matter is, we really don't know how much this project would cost. It's all just opinion based speculation. I also have not seen much mention of Monorail expansion IN CONJUNCTION WITH other modes of transportation. If they expand the Monorail, why would the buses be completely retired? I don't suggest continuing to provide the full current fleet but a few busses would elleviate some of the fears of Monorail breakdown. It would be nice to discuss "expansion" and not total Worldwide replacement. It just sounds like it has to be an all or nothing thing and that it's just too expensive. Funny, I stay at the Poly because of the convenience of the Monorail. Even though it costs me nearly 3 times as much as staying at a moderate. But I guess the Monorail is no value add to resorts... :veryconfu

 

[marni1971]

I`m all for the Monorail going out to MGM, AK and Downtown Disney. Add a dew feeder stations along the way, and tie these up with WEDWay (improved of course) links to the resorts.. as we`ve discussed many times here in the past.

Its no secret Monorail expansion has been planned at WDW, with foundations layed in Futureworld during its construction for east and west spurs. Its no secret TWDC has admitted they can`t keep adding busses to the property road network and need a soloution everyone agrees with. Herein is the problem - everyone, including the accountants and the shareholders. Once thing is certain - it won`t be cheap. But WDW isn`t a regular amusement park. It is expected to go further and spend more to stay at the top. Imagine if Walt had settled for trams to continue to link Disneyland with the Disneyland Hotel?